1. Field of Invention
This application is directed to a container port storage and distribution system wherein shipping containers are manipulated by one or more overhead transfer units (TU) that can lift or elevate the shipping containers and maneuver them into vertical columns or stacks that are end to end and side by side, without the need to use conventional cranes, forklifts, straddle carriers, and the like, and in such a manner as to maximize storage space by eliminating the need for aisles or spaces between rows of shipping containers for manipulating and/or handling equipment. In one embodiment the system includes a means for transferring the shipping containers directly from the container ships to the storage area and from a storage area to/from an intermodal transport area including rail cars, as well as delivery vehicles such as tractor trailers.
2. Brief Description of the Related Art
The most efficient and economical manner of shipping goods by ship, rail or truck is the through the use of standardized international shipping or cargo containers. The containers are designated in standard sizes which are generally twenty, forty or forty-five feet in length. The containers are specifically designed so that they may be loaded into the holds and on the decks of ocean going vessels and off loaded from the vessels at a port by use of either on-board or on-shore cranes which are used to place the containers on dock areas where they are moved by one or more transport devices such as large fork lifts, straddle carrier, automatic guided vehicles (AGV's) and the like. In some instances the containers may be loaded onto land transport vehicles including railway cars and trucks and in other instances the containers may be moved into storage such as in a warehouse.
Loading/unloading shipping containers to/from container ships is a labor intensive and time consuming process. It requires large gantry cranes on a ship or shore to lift and transfer the shipping containers to/from the container ships to an area where straddle carriers, or other transporters, move the containers directly to a storage area or to another transfer location, where a type of bridge crane transfers the shipping containers to a storage area where the shipping containers are stacked generally three or four high in a side by side, end to end arrangement within the length and width of a bridge crane footprint. Straddle carriers typically stack the shipping containers two to three high and require an aisle between each row of containers for the carriers to maneuver. Gantry cranes are also used to lift and transport shipping containers using a spreader beam much like straddle carriers, ships and gantry cranes and the like. They are used primarily to transfer the shipping containers from a staging yard to rail cars or overland truck/trailers.
Selective storage and retrieval of shipping containers within various storage areas is very time consuming and becomes a bottleneck to an efficient movement of containers into and out of the storage areas both for transfer to/from the container ships, as well as to/from rail cars and truck/trailers. The land area required for current container ports is extremely large. Currently operating container ports are increasingly unable to handle the volumes of containers arriving and leaving the ports as more and larger container ships are being utilized.
In view of the foregoing, port authorities must find larger land areas with more docking space to facilitate the growth in the numbers of shipping containers arriving and leaving ports. Environmental pressures are also increasing on the port authorities for more efficient land use, which drives up the cost of constructing and/or expanding the ports.
In an attempt to mitigate bottlenecks within most container ports, port authorities have initiated improvements, such as in Singapore and Rotterdam, by automation of container movement. However, multiple transfers between ships and transport vehicles are still required, which creates time consuming bottlenecks. However, even with such improvements, the flow of containers through container ports is fragmented and disjointed due to limited land area, multiple transfers of containers from the ships to the final transportation vehicles, vehicle congestion and limited mooring space.
In addition to the foregoing, there is virtually no x-ray or other screening of shipping containers as they enter the ports for both inbound and outbound cargo. This leaves containers, and thus ports, ships and other transportation vehicles vulnerable to terrorist attacks and other threats. In view of the foregoing, there is a need to further improve upon the manner in which shipping containers are handled and/or stored within port facilities and shipping terminals as well as to provide greater or increased security by providing for container inspection.